Hospitals usually have community midwives who provide antenatal and postnatal care for women in their own homes, as well as attending home births. Some hospitals offer team midwifery, which usually involves midwives working both in the community and the hospital. This means midwifery care will be provided by a team of midwives, giving the mother-to-be an the opportunity to get to know them during her pregnancy. A small number of hospitals provide a similar scheme called caseload or one-to-one midwifery, which, instead of a team, provides women with one, named, midwife to provide her care with whom she can build a trusting relationship. Some midwives work within birth centres, midwifery-led units which may be found within a hospital or as a stand-alone centre. These offer women the option of giving birth in a less medical, home-from-home environment, which is known to improve the rate of "normal" births without compromising the safety of the mother and baby.

In terms of working patterns, midwifery can be incredibly flexible. Shiftwork is the norm for those working within a ward setting but this can be on a full-time or part-time basis, and may be worked out around the hours most convenient for the individual, such as working nights only. Clinics or specialist areas are often open from nine to five, and although community, team and caseload midwifery usually involve being on-call, this drawback may be countered because it provides a very flexible and satisfying way to work.

Should a midwife choose not to work within the NHS, there are many private hospitals to choose from, although an emphasis on the care provided by consultant obstetricians means the role of the midwife may be much more limited within this setting. Another option, and one which almost certainly gives midwives the greatest autonomy, is that of independent midwifery. This involves being hired privately by women to provide their midwifery care and attend their births, which are usually - but not exclusively - at home. Although it means being on-call all the time for their mothers, the midwife is able to take on as much or as little work as she chooses. Independent midwives tend to have excellent normal birth rates and high rates of satisfaction amongst the women they provide care for; many midwives find this a very enjoyable way to work.

Despite popular opinion, it is not actually necessary to train as a nurse prior to becoming a midwife, although it is true that many of the midwives currently practising were nurses first. If you are currently a nurse, or are planning to train as one, you must undertake a further 18-month midwifery training following your three-year nurse training programme. Direct entry programmes, which train midwives from scratch, are generally three years in length, although some four-year courses exist which incorporate the same number of hours as the three-year course but over a longer period of time. These may be particularly suitable for those with young children.

Direct entry courses are increasingly popular and are seen by many as the future of midwifery, as those trained in this way tend to be more likely to remain in the profession long-term. Whichever route you choose to take, you will need either an Advanced Diploma of Higher Education in Midwifery or a BSc (Hons) in Midwifery in order to qualify. The only real difference between these two options is an increased emphasis on the academic side of things on the degree course, although the practical requirements are the same whichever course you take. For example, you are expected to be the lead midwife at 40 births before you are able to qualify.

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